Refrigerant condenser cooler



Dec. 14, 1937. L. M. PERSONS 2,102,090

REFRIGERANT CONDENSER COOLER Filed Nov. 1'7, 1933 CURRENT SUPPLY a play counter "22 such asused in butcher shops,

Patented Dec 14, 1937' 1 I UNITED STATES P T F E a 1 2.10am v anmonnan'r cormnnscp M. Persons, Des Moines, Iowa,-assignor to Penn Electric 8witch'Co., Des Moines, Iowa, I

a corporation of Iowa Application November '17. 193:, Serial no. 693,476

'3 Claims. (cl. sci-s2) The object otmyjinvention is to provide'a refrigerant condenser coolerwhich is simple, du-

rable and comparatively inexpensive to manu- 'facture. v a A H A further object is to provide a mechanical condenser cooler as distinguished from the hydraulic type now ingeneral use, one of the main objects of ,providing such a cooler being to conservewater and heat heretoforewasted. m More particularlv it is" my object to provide a condenser cooler which humidiiles the atmosphere and heats it with the heat' which is extracted from the condenser coil, the same being effected by using a small quantity of water and' operating a fractional horsepower electric motor.

with these and other objects in view my/in- .vention consists inthe construction, arrangement and. combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objeotscontemplated are at a ed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawinggin which-.

The figure is a diagrammatic view of a reirlgerj ant condenser cooler embodying my invention.

' On the accompanying drawing, 1 have used the L I illustrate an-electric motor i2 i'o'r driving the compressor and? the refrigerating system itself c includes an evaporator coil l4 and a condenser coil It of'ordinary construction. An expansion valve is indicated at It.

Within aroom 20.! show a refrigerated dismerelyby way of illustration, as my refrigerant condenser cooler can be applied to anyrefrigerating system. ,Heretofore the condenser, coil l8 n has usually been cooled by jacketing it with a larger tube and running water continuously this tube whenever the refrigerating apparatus-is in operation. In a three'horse power machine, for instance-approximately four thou sand gallons of water per day pass over the condenser coil forcooling it byextracting its heat, after which the water itself is permitted to run into the sewer andthusboth the water andsthe extracted heat are entirely wasted. One of the primary objects-of my invention'is to considerably cutdown the quantity of water and to extract the heat and use it in the room II, or wherever desired, and at the same time humidify the air without any expense other than u the cost of the small quantity of waterused and tained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointlevel of the water 26 is maintained at a predeterminedheight by means of a float valve 28 connected with the supply pipe 30 and automatically controlled by a float 32.

A shaft 34 is rotatably mounted in a housing 38 and has a blower disc 38' secured thereto. Blower blades, 40 are mounted on the blower disc 38 and the shaft 34 is driven by a small electric motor 42'. For instance, one of about one-sixth horse power has"been found satisfac-' tory. I

Frictionally receiving theshaft 84 are a pair of spiders M spaced from each other and mounted between'the spiders is a series of spaced perforated discs 46. All of this is clearly shown i .rny co-pendlng application Serial No. 651,521 'flled January 13, 1933 which matured into Patent No. 2,054,039 on Sept. 8, 1936.

By way of illustration, the room is provided .with an outlet register 48 and an inlet register 50, The outlet register communicates with a conduit 52 leading to the central space among the plates 40 so that air is received through the register 48 and driven by centrifugal force through the discs 46 by the blades of. the blower. It is then discharged through the register into the room- 20. The refrigerating mechanlsmis controlled in the ordinary manner'by an automatic switch 54 1 having its temperature responsive element 56 subjected to the air to be cooled in the refrigerator 22. Thembtor 2 can also be connected with the current wl s supplying the motor i2 so that it is also con oiled by the switch it and therefore operable only when the refrigerating mechanism is operable.

Other'controls can be provided for the motor 42, instead of the switch It or in addition to it as desired. a 5

' y Practical operation In the operation of my refrigerant condenser cooler, the heatfrom the condenser coil II is dissipated into the water l2 and the water thus heated is picked up in the form of, a film of moisture on the discs L The 'air being circulated past thediscs evaporates the moisture and V absorbs the heat of' the disc, thus cooling off the portions out of thewater It, which portions 5 are again re-heated when they enter the water. This causes both heating and humidification of the air and by actual test I have found that between thirty thousand and forty thousand B. t. u. per hour can :thus be generated by the condenser cooler and discharged into the,

' cooler will furnish suflicient heat for that purpose under most circumstances.

In the winter time, it is also recognized that humidity is desirable and therefore the condenser cooler supplying humidity as it does to the room 20 is a further desirable feature over and above merely economizing on water and utilizing heretofore wasted heat.

In the summer time, of course, it is unde- "sirable to extract the heat from the water 26 for the room 20 and also undesirable to humidity the atmosphere. Therefore dampers 58 and 60 can be arranged to coact with registers 82 and 64 or with the registers 48 and 50, as shown by dotted lines, so that when in their full line position the air will circulate through the room as already described, but when in their dotted line positions the air will be taken from, and discharged to, atmosphere. A suitable control handie 66 can be provided in the room 20 to change automatically by the float valve 28. I have found 1 that my refrigerant condenser cooler requires between one hundred and two hundred gallons of water as against four thousand gallons required by the systems heretofore in use, as already described'. This is a considerable saving of water. In the summer time, the saving is even greater, as less water is used with my apparatus.

In the event the water rises too high, in the receptacle 24, it can overflow through a pipe 25 whichlead's to the sewer or any suitable drain.

I have also found that the refrigerating mechanism operates more efficiently as my condenser cooler can dissipate the heat faster than a reasonable amount of water flowing over the condenser coil as in the old method described. The cost of the current supplied to the motor 42 is but a .small fraction of the cost of the water supplied -by the old method.

From the foregoing description, it is obvious means for rotating said disks.

that much water is saved and all the heat heretofore wasted is used when it is required, as during the winter time or chilly portions-of the spring and autumn days.

Some changes-may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my device without departing from the real spirit and purposeof my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents, which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

l. The combination with a receptacle, conduit means for directing airthrough the upper portion of said receptacle, said conduit means having an intake end communicating with a room and with outside atmosphere and having an outlet end also communicating with a room and with outside atmosphere, a condenser having portions in said receptacle, and means for supplying cooling liquid to said receptacle to a level above said condenser; of a device comprising circular disks rotatably mounted in said conduit in the path of air flowing therethrough on an axis substantially parallel to said liquid level, said axis being located a distance thereabove less than the radii of said disks, means for rotating said disks and means in the intake and outlet ends of saidconduit to limit communication of said intake end with the room only and said outlet end with outside atmosphere only, or saidintake end with outside atmosphere only and said outlet end with the room. only.

2. The combination with a receptacle, conduit means for directing air through the upper portion of said receptacle, a condenser coil having portions inclosed in said receptacle and means for supplying a cooling liquid to said receptacle to a level above said condenser; 01 a device comprising a set of circular disks rotatably mounted in said conduit in the path of air flowing therethrough on an axis substantially parallel'to said liquid level, said axis being located a distance thereabove less than the radii of said disks and 3. The combination with a receptacle, conduit means for directing air through the upper ,portion of said receptacle, a blower i'or propelling the air through said conduit means, a condenser having portions inclosed in said receptacle and means for supplying a cooling liquid to said receptacle to a level above said condenser; 01 a device comprising rotatably mounted disks in said conduit in the path'ofair flowing therethrough and on an axis substantially parallel to the liquid level, said axis being located a distance thereabove less than the radii of said disks, means .for rotating said discs, and means for rendering said blower operable upon a predetermined rise in temperature.

LAWRENCE ivr. PERSONS. 

